Wolves, Witches and Giants

Wolves Witches and Giants, narrated by Spike Milligan, is a children's cartoon series of humorous adaptations of classic fairy tales, featuring a collection of villains including the wily wolf, a wicked witch and an enormous giant. It was written by musician Ed Welch, based on an LP, also performed by Milligan. The Directors and Producers were Simon & Sara Bor of Honeycomb Animation. There were 4 series of 13 episodes and 3 specials produced for ITV from 1995-9. The CITV channel revived the series in 2008 where it still runs.

It included such remakes of tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, The Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

It was made by the same producers that made the original Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, Tube Mice, Binka, Funky Valley and the new series of Grizzly Tales

Although being based in Medieval times, it has featured some modern equipment, such as the Wily Wolf driving a blue sports car, a tailor playing on a handheld game console, Little Red Riding Hood's bed-ridden grandmother watching an Australian soap on her TV, or the Wicked Witch using a microwave.

Each episode usually has either the Wolf, the Witch, or the Giant, as the main antagonist. With the two other villains making cameo appearances.

Character Types

 * These are the types of characters that appear in the show. Individuals of this type are identical most of the time (e.g. all Giants look alike apart from the Giant with the Golden Hair). They seem to be different individuals in different episodes (e.g. A wolf in one episode would be a different person from the wolf in the next, despite appearing identical)


 * Wolf
 * Witch
 * Giant
 * Fox
 * King
 * Queen
 * Prince
 * Princess
 * Soldier

Opening titles
It is known that there are at least two title sequences for this show. In Series 1-3 the opening title is more sinister, a spider crawls onto a Giant's nose, the Giant's skin appears blue due to the darkness of the night, only his head above his known is shown. The Giant's head goes down with the spider on his nose and a Witch flies past the Moon, a Wolf appears on the left side and howls in front of the moon in a manner similar to a werewolf, and turns to face the viewer, giving a scheming smile. In Series 1, the title Wolves Witches and Giants were written in a straight line. In Series 2-4 the Wolves, Witches and Giants title were written by columns instead of the striaght line.

In Series 4 the opening title is more cartoony. Instead of a spider, a frog crawls onto a Giant's nose, unlike the first one, the Giant's skin appears to be his normal colour, also his whole face is shown. His head goes down with the spider on his nose, strangely the Giant has no facial expression as if he doesn't know a frog is on his nose. A Witch flies past the Moon and a Wolf appears on the right side and howls in front of the moon, instead of turning to the viewer, he just looks at the moon.

After opening titles (Basically showing villain of the story)
In series 1, the opening titles jump into the once upon a time intro. It doesn't show the example stories first. For instance, the opening title would automatically jump into once upon a time and then give an adjective for each of the 3 villains, like wily wolf, wicked witch and ginormous giant. Those 3 villains earn their reputation in a selection of folk tales setting to the dark woods, deep lakes and enchanted castles. And then they introduce the villain of the cartoon which in this intro, the wily wolf. Then they jump into the clips and title. The narrator would tell the viewers "Find out in this story of wolves witches and giants called the wolf and the 7 kids" for instance.

In series 2-4, It introduces the villains humor in example stories. For instance, in the Jack and the beanstalk intro, you can a witch flying in the sky, a Wolf riding a glider chasing a bird, and a giant saying his well known catch phrase while he was sitting in the kitchen,"Fee fi fo fum! I smell the blood of an English men. Fee hee and i of P-E-N. I'm going to dispose to make my bread! And then it goes into a intro where once upon a time of tiny cottages, babbling brooks, and rolling hills lived describing of size for each of the 3 villans. It ends with a huge giant looking at the town and licking his lips, and then jumps into the cartoon clips and then title. At last the story begins. The narrator doesn't read the title.

Series 1 (October 9th-25th 1995)

 * The Wolf and the Seven Kids (First appearance of the wolf)
 * Hansel and Gretel (First appearance of the witch)
 * The Three Billy Goats Gruff (First appearance of the giant)
 * The Little Red Hen (First appearance of the wolf's mother.)
 * The Sleeping Beauty (The first appearance of the king with long hair and the red haired queen.)
 * The Little Tailor (First appearance of the giant.)
 * Little Red Riding Hood
 * Rapunzel (First appearance of the dashing prince)
 * Jack and the Beanstalk (First appearance of Jack and the tall thin lady giant)
 * The Three Little Pigs
 * The Witch and the Comb (First appearance of the mother wth black hair and an appron)
 * The Giant with the Golden Hair (First appearance of a king with balding hair, the old man with a seal, and the golden hair giant)
 * Peter and the Wolf (First appearance of the fox in a cameo)

Series 2 (October 7th-December 25th 1996)
(There are some changes to the character's looks. The fox is slightly bigger with red ears and red nose. He also is given a green vest. The Wof and Witch's design is more smooth. The witch's cat is given white eyes instead of yellow. New characters were introduced such as the Wolf's wife and son, the witch's daughters. However the Giant's look is the same. Characters such as the tailor and the dashing prince make appearances.)


 * The Wolf and the Fox (First main appearance of the fox.)
 * The Little Mermaid
 * Puss in Boots
 * Goldilocks (First appearance of mother wolf and baby wolf)
 * The Witch and the Mill
 * Chicken Lickin
 * The Giant and the Apprentice
 * Billy's Halloween
 * The Wolf and the Horse
 * Sweet and Sour
 * The Snowqueen
 * Beauty and the Beast
 * The Little Snow Girl
 * Cinderella (First appearance of the witch's duaghters)

Series 3 (October 6th-December 25th 1997)
(More changes in character designs as the Giant had bigger eyes and a rounder face. The dashing prince and the fox become reccuring characters in stories. You will see character development as the giant and the wolf would show their heroic acts as well as their usual tricks.)


 * The Emperor's New Clothes (First wolf and fox story where the narrator says "In this story our villains are the wily wolf and the cunning fox")
 * Dick Whittington
 * The Giant who had Nothing at All
 * The Four Musicians of Brum
 * The Witch who Stole a Prince (First appearance of the servant girl.)
 * Hercules and the Giant
 * The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
 * The Three Wishes
 * The Giant who Sucked his Thumb
 * Tom Thumb
 * Matches (In this story a main villain didn't actually do anything evil)
 * The Frog Prince (First story when the dashing prince's story was introduced in the introduction)
 * The Giant Who Put Out The Sun
 * The Frog Prince
 * Snow White (First appearance of Dunderhead.)

Series 4 (October 5th-21st 1998)
(The character designs become a bit more detailed. The color is much brighter and vibrant.)


 * The Ugly Duckling
 * The Elves and the Shoemaker (The witch's daughters make an appearance)
 * Princess & the Pea
 * The Hunchback of Nottingham
 * Jack the Giant Killer (Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk returns.)
 * Babes in the Wood (Second appearance of the court.)
 * Diamonds and Toads (Servant girl and one of the witch's daughters return)
 * Pinocchio (second appearance of Dunderhead)
 * Snow White and Rose Red
 * Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (The wolf's mother returns)
 * Molly and the Giant
 * Tom Tit Tot
 * Alladin (an extended version was released in German channel pro 7 in 1999)